


Ambush

by Mariah123



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Amputation, Angst, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Homophobic Language, Like its chapter 3 and the fake relationship hasn't even started yet slow, Like really slow, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25943740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mariah123/pseuds/Mariah123
Summary: Nolan is a veteran and Travis is an NHL player. They fake a relationship, fall in love and get married. Exactly in that order.
Relationships: Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Comments: 10
Kudos: 68





	1. Chapter 1

Nolan is twenty one when he loses his leg. The events of that day are permanently etched on his brain and he recalls them every night in his sleep.

Despite being in the middle of a war zone, Nolan loved it in Afghanistan. The harsh heat was painful, the exposed skin on his body felt uncomfortable. Yet Nolan was happier than he'd been in a long time, with his platoon, his brothers in arms. 

That day - the day he lost his leg - started off as normal. He was awoken from his slumber by the roaring voice of his Captain. He had groaned as he rubbed his forehead before ice cold water was thrown onto him by a guffawing Cameron. In his army fatigues, Cameron laughed aloud as he sauntered away. Nolan had sighed in feigned annoyance at the time but even he knew that he was fighting back a smile. His hand reached up to rub his chest as he had walked away from the makeshift bed. 

Nolan had dressed himself in his army fatigues, and was tieing the laces of his boots, when Chris hollered at him from outside the makeshift tent. Nolan had waved a hand, as if to say 'hold on', Chris smiled as he gave Nolan two thumbs up. Nolan had grasped his rifle and made his way out to listen to Captain Booth. Their task was to escort a group of kids to school.

Nolan didn't have any experience with children so he robotically loitered around the area outside the school. 

Nolan's eyes were rapidly tracking the various villagers as they walked past him. His hand unconsciously caressed the rifle, that was slung across his torso, almost like a lifeline and met eyes with Cameron who shot finger guns at him with a cheesy grin on his face. Nolan laughed out loud before –

"PATTY!" 

His smiling face turned to look at the domineering voice that had called for him. Before he could even lock eyes with Chris a black bag was thrown onto him. 

Boom! 

Nolan had tried to scramble away but he hadn't been quick enough with the weight of his bulletproof vest and rifle - still slung across his torso - holding him down. 

Pain shot up his leg and numbness settled on his face as dust and debris shot into his eyes. Nolan lay on the hot ground, staring directly at the bright blue sky, eyes glazed over. His breaths were shallow and Nolan attempted to place a hand on his chest as if to stop the thumping beats. He willed himself to stay awake but as soon as he felt Cameron's hands on him and heard Chris' voice he knew it was ok to close his eyes. So he did. 

And then he was abandoned with a lifetime of mental trauma and no leg. 

* * *

"Patty!" 

Nolan wakes up with a gasp as he grasps his bed sheets in a painful grip. Sweat drips down his forehead as well as his neck and his leg shakes. 

"You can't spend your whole life in this bed" Madison whispers as she takes a hesitant seat on the foot of the bed.

Her hand reaches towards his hair, the tendrils on his head don't exactly reach his shoulders but they graze them. She attempts to pat the floating strands that refuse to cooperate, down. "Take a walk, start playing hockey again" she speaks quietly again as she recognises the tell tale signs of a migraine.

Madison is great, the best sister anyone can ask for. But she doesn't understand. She can try to, with her constant research on amputees, but she will never know the feeling of being helpless. Walking isn't as simple as just getting up and putting one foot before the other. For someone like Nolan walking hurts not because he has no leg but because he can never go back to walking normally, smoothly. With his prosthetic leg Nolan trips and stumbles and can no longer walk as smoothly, so people do what they're conditioned to when confronted with freakish or odd sights, stare. So Madison can never understand. But he allows himself to smile weakly at her concerned face. 

"I'll try" he whispers as he turns his head away from her face. He knows it's callous of him to keep her at a distance, to prevent her from knowing the new him, but it's better this way.

"Ok" she murmurs softly as she stands up, Nolan tries to ignore the hurt in her voice but he can't and it crushes him. He wants to say something as she walks away but soon the footsteps get lighter and lighter, but no words escape his mouth and he loses his chance once again. 

Nolan knows they're all worried. His mother can't help but fret around him. Constantly fluffing his pillow or shifting his duvet around him as he lays on his bed. Bringing him hot chocolate in the middle of the night after loud nightmares and also providing him with food every hour of the day. And for a few moments Nolan feels like a child again, except the tortures of Afghanistan never leave him and he could have endured it before he lost his leg, but now - now he can't stop the nightmares no matter how hard he tries. 

His father just rests a hand on his shoulder and pulls him to his chest when he comes back home. For some that may seem a normal gesture but Steve Patrick is notorious for having the emotional depth of a teaspoon (like his son). So as Nolan rests his head on the beating chest of his father he bawls his eyes out like a baby. He wants to have a tantrum about the unfairness of life and throw a few objects around but he's no longer a child so he just sobs on his father's chest.

Aimee is confusing. She's still his little sister and he will always love her, but she walks on eggshells around him. She comes into his room sometimes and stares at him whilst he sleeps. Nolan knows because he's never asleep, sometimes she plays with his hair but most of the times she places two fingers on the side of his throat to check if he's breathing. Sometimes when Nolan's eyes open to meet her face she gets flustered, makes a dumb excuse and leaves the room. 

Everything is wrong and Nolan doesn't even know who to blame, so he blames himself.

* * *

Travis likes to remind himself how lucky he is. He is a star player for the Philadelphia Flyers, he has enough money to feed a village and his condo is as luxurious as they come. But TK is not happy. He pretends to be, smiles a lot, mouth runs a hundred miles an hour with a grin or sometimes a smirk on his face. 

Travis likes to pretend that he doesn't know why he's sad, and some of the times he actually doesn't know why he's so sad but most the time he knows. It's because he's gay. He hadn't even known until he was 16 years old and his friend had pointed out a gorgeous leggy blonde. She was pretty, but the older blonde, doe - eyed man beside her - with the smirk on his plump red lips - was more interesting to Travis. That face never really left Travis' brain, it was hidden but it came to the very forefront of his thought process as he lay on his bed every night. It was strange that this face was something that stuck with him even in his early twenties. 

What was even stranger was the fact that apparently being gay was wrong. Travis had never judged anyone for their sexuality and he never will and he's pretty sure the guys on his team and just other guys in the NHL are decent people off ice. But sometimes in the heat of the moment, as the puck is gliding across the ice in a flurry the guys would say words. 'Faggot' and sometimes 'cocksucker' as well as a slew of other mean - spirited slurs. But Travis knows that they're all decent guys who don't give a fuck about anyone's sexuality off ice. Despite that knowledge, homophobic slurs still cause him to pause with a cold shiver, cause him too lose possession of the puck and ruin his flow for the rest of the night. 

Travis' brain is always working. And a thought spirals into days of just thinking and sometimes Travis thinks that it was better if he was into leggy blondes like the one he found gorgeous - but not as gorgeous as the doe - eyed man - in that one mall. So he changes and suddenly he has tall, slim blondes hanging off of his arm, long nails running down his chest in slow seductive patterns and glossed lips running down the column of his throat and he hates it, but it's ok. Because every night he returns to the image of the blonde boy in his brain as he tries to sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

Nolan's at a bakery. He fucking hates it. It's pink and white and there's a short man in front of him who won't stop talking. But for the first time since he came back, Aimee talked to him. They had a slightly bittersweet conversation that involved mental health, his short lived aspiration of being drafted into the NHL and their mutual love for macarons. Their mutual love for macarons aspect of the conversation is what brings Nolan to the bakery. 

The man in front of Nolan however, with his soft looking long hair, can apparently talk for the whole of Philadelphia. The Canadian tinge to his voice sparks a slight interest in Nolan, though the incessant prattle of his voice makes Nolan want to leave the bakery.

Eventually the man who, Nolan now notices, is wearing a Philadelphia flyers hoodie grabs hold of a box and grins at the cashier before exiting the bakey with a wave of his hand. A few years ago Nolan could have seen himself being friends with the talkative guy. But now even getting out of his bed seemed to be hard work, let alone forming a friendship.

"12 macarons please" murmurs Nolan as he looks anywhere but the cashier's face. Nolan feels his palms begin to sweat as the smiling woman meticulously places an assortment of different coloured macarons into a dusty pink box. 

"That'd be 20 dollars" she says with a grin, Nolan fishes out the bill and places the piece of paper on the countertop. Nolan takes the box of macarons and hesitantly shoots the young girl a smile. She seemed nice. 

The moment Nolan exits the bakery he see's the talkative man again, who apparently hasn't left after all this time. Now that Nolan is actually able to look at his tan face, he realises a number of things at once. Firstly _woah_ that man is very conventionally attractive. Secondly, said conventionally attractive man is staring right at him with a toothy grin. Nolan wants to run, but his leg, or lack thereof poses an issue. Also maybe Nolan's suffering from a fight or flight response because he can't move.

But the guy with the nice hair runs to him with a smirk and grabs his arm, worry seeps into his eyes as he looks into Nolan's eyes. "Just play along" he whispers and Nolan wants ignore him, wants to shrug off his hand and walk away. But Nolan has always been a weak person especially in the presence of attractive Canadian men, with toothy grins and soft eyes. So he just mutters an "ok". Nolan doesn't even know what's happening, but then an angry blonde woman in long heels struts up to them both. She gasps as she spots them and Nolan wants to run away as her eyes fill up with tears and she begins to sob loudly. 

"Is he - are you - wha—" she begins but again bursts into loud sobs. 

"Yeah he's the one" murmurs the guy with the nice hair as he gazes into Nolan's eyes with this incredibly soft and sappy look that makes Nolan want to barf but also sink into his warm looking flyers hoodie. The woman turns to him and Nolan pauses for a moment before he leans into said flyers hoodie, shit, his brain scream as he resists the urge to inhale and instead smiles at the girl. 

The girl just ignores his smile and with a fierce glare at long-haired-man, struts off with the click clacking of heels meeting concrete. 

This time Nolan does shrug off the tan arm and looks down to face the flustured man who offers him a sheepish grin. Nolan opens his mouth, even thought he doesn't even know what to say, but before he could even utter a word the man's speaking a hundred miles an hour. 

"I know" he groans, elongating the word, as his hands go up to cradle his face.

"But like she was right there" he whines as he aggressively gesticulates with his hands.

And then it's like Travis realises that Nolan isn't his friend, nor is he someone he knows and then the sheepish look returns. Nolan doesn't like that look of insecurity on his face.

"So you decided to corner me" Nolan says with a smirk, the action feels so foreign, he hadn't smiled in 2 months, since he lost his leg, but then the man in front him smiles a cocky grin and it's worth it. 

"You were just so attractive" Travis says in a teasing lilt as he appraises Nolan with an up and down look. Nolan scoffs to hide the fact that he might actually be slightly _flattered_. 

"So can I get a pretty name for a pretty face" Travis asks as he attempts to hold in his laughter at his cheesy words 

Nolan rolls his eyes and now he's smiling wider than he's smiled in a long time.

"Is that how you flirted with the girl who ran away, cause now I get why she was crying" Nolan says, with a tinge of amusement in his voice. But then Travis' face changes and there's so much regret in eyes and Nolan wants to take it all back. 

"Nolan Patrick" he says and hopes that his previous words can be blinked out of existence, apparently they can be because Travis' eyes widen.

"Patso!" 

"No" 

Pat?" 

"No" 

"Patty?"

"No" 

"Travis" 

Nolan's brows furrow in confusion. 

"It's my name" Travis says with a grin, Nolan doesn't even know how they've come to this point. From being annoyed by his talkative nature in the bakery to now being entertained by his playfulness. Nolan must have been silently staring for a socially unacceptable time because Travis is snapping his fingers to break Nolan's reverie. 

"How the fuck did you get my phone" Nolan questions as he spots his phone in Travis' hand. 

"Grabbed it when you started to daydream" Travis replies as he conspicously types his phone number onto the phone and saves it under the name TK.

"What the fuck is a Tk" Nolan questions and now he can really feel the pain shoot up his nonexistent limb and he resists the urge to massage his stump. 

"My name, Travis Konecny" Travis says as he hands the phone over to Nolan. The name sounds familiar to Nolan and in hindsight, the name paired with the flyers hoodie should have been clue enough but at the moment Nolan didn't get it. 

"Now that I've given you a nickname, I will haunt you like a ghost" Travis says with a grin on his face and Nolan doesn't want to admit it, but that sounds good. 

"I'll call you" Travis says with a wave and Nolan doesn't even wanna know how long he was daydreaming if Tk was able figure out his number as well as saving his own number. 

Nolan feels weird as he hails a taxi home. There's a lump in his throat, his chest feels tight and tears sting the back of his eyes. He feels strangely vulnerable, but the idea of Travis being his friend makes him so fucking happy, its pathetic. 

* * *

The whole journey home is spent in thoughts of Travis. It's weird how this one random man can dominate so much of his thoughts and it's weird that Nolan feels so much towards a stranger. Nolan had always prided himself on his indifferent attitude towards people because most of the time he simply did not care. But now this long haired Canadian was breaking down all his barriers. He smiled as he placed the box of macarons on the kitchen counter. 

"Are you smiling" Madison gasps as she and Aimee enter the kitchen. 

"No, you're smiling" Nolan shoots back defensively as his smile disappears and the scowl that usually rests on his face reappears.

Madison rolls her eyes before wrapping her arms around Nolan's large frame in a hug, Nolan sinks into the hug and loosely wraps his arm around her. After Madison is done squeezing the life out of him, Nolan walks towards Aimee. He wraps his arm around her petite form, she sinks into his chest and he can feel her shaking "I got you macarons" he whispers into her hair and mentally curses himself for the crack in his voice and the singular tear that he blinks into existence. Nolan looks up and gestures for Madison to join the hug which she does. And as Nolan finds himself cocooned in warmth he thinks that maybe today was worth living. Maybe tomorrow is also worth living. He still feels the ache in the pit of his chest that hasn't gone away since the day he blew his leg off, he still feels the depressive aches to his joints and the pain in his head still comes and goes in waves but maybe life is worth living. Nolan knows, he will never be cured, but maybe he can be better.

* * *

Travis likes Nolan, which is weird. He'd only known the man for like 30 minutes and it wasn't like he actually knew Nolan. But his rosy cheeks, the smirk that his scowl had transformed into and his deep voice was enough to make Travis fall deep. Maybe not into love because that's a big, strong word with a lot of meaning, but fall into likeness? Because Travis really likes Nolan. And this was the first night where he didn't fall asleep in thoughts of the blonde boy from the mall and instead in thoughts of rosy cheeked boy from the bakery.


	3. Chapter 3

Nolan actually liked waking up to his alarm clock. It had something to do with his innate need to have a certain order in his life, probably because of his military background. In fact his military background is probably the reason why he flinches at the sound of his ringtone. Nolan groans as he blindly grapples for his phone. He swipes before he places the phone against his ear. 

"Hmm" he sounds in barely repressed annoyance.

"Yo" Travis starts and Nolan can actually see Travis' smile through the phone. 

"No" Nolan mumbles before Travis can even continue with his probably insane idea. 

"You didn't even listen to me" Travis whines and now Nolan can imagine Travis' pout. 

"Knowing you it'll probably be something dumb" Nolan replies with a yawn. 

Travis sputters into the phone "I just wanted to ask you to have breakfast with me" Travis mumbles. 

"Pick me up" Nolan says and then he regrets it for a second because maybe they hadn't reached that stage in their one day friendship. But then -

"You got it" Travis says with a beam which Nolan can see so clearly behind his closed eyes. Nolan rolls his eyes as Travis cuts the call without even asking about his address. He texts Travis his address and groans before falling back onto the bed. 

* * *

It had been hard cleaning his stump today. He couldn't walk towards his bathroom properly because his non - existent leg hurt like hell, phantom limb syndrome they called it. But eventually he had found his way to the bathroom, though it took way longer than normal, but nothing about Nolan had ever been normal. He fitted his incredibly realistic looking prosthetic limb, and began to slip into a daydream of Travis finding out. Maybe he'd gasp in shock and run away, maybe he'd sneer at him with disgust in his eyes. Or maybe, he'd smile his gorgeous smile. _Stop it,_ Nolan chided his brain like an absolute lunatic, he was not going to give himself all this hope. Hope had never worked for him before, why would it work now. 

Nolan carefully walked down the stairs, taking full advantage of the railings to support himself. His mother grinned at him as she saw him, she bounded towards him and pressed a soft kiss to his rosy cheek. He mumbled something incoherent with a blush as he attempted to stifle his smile.

"Omelette or French Toast" his mum questioned as she turned her back towards him and grabbed the two plates. _Both_ , Nolan wanted to say before remembering his breakfast with Travis. 

"Uh I'm having breakfast with a friend" Nolan mumbled as he softly smiled at the thought of spending time with Travis. 

His mother's grin widened as she placed the plates on the kitchen island and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Nolan wrapped his arms around the small frame of his mother and inhaled his mother's comforting scent. Yes it was weird, but according to Nolan his mother had a unique scent that never failed to comfort or reassure him. 

_Ding!_

The sound of his phone makes Nolan jump, he shoots his mother an apologetic smile before squeezing her shoulders and grabbing his phone.

_Yo im outside_

Nolan resists the urge to fondly smile at his phone, conscious of the fact that his mother is looking at him. He turns around. 

"I gotta go" he says as he tries to ignore the worry on his mother's face. It was obvious that at first she was excited for his new (first) friend in Phily, which was actually kinda pathetic. But now it had dawned on her that her son was meeting up with a total stranger. Nolan wanted to offer some comforting words to reassure his mother but he had never been an emotional person and word's never did come easily to him, so he smiled a reassuring smile and walked out of the kitchen. Grabbing his wallet from the shelf besides the front door, he prepared himself with a sigh before opening the door.

* * *

"Patsoo!" The obnoxiously loud Canadian drawl was so loud that Nolan actually felt concern for his neighbours. He makes his way towards Travis, still wearing a flyers hoodie. Travis nudges Nolan.

"Pat, I totally know where to take you" he says as he pushes Nolan onto the passenger seat of the car. Travis enters the drivers seat with a huff. 

They sit in silence, it's comfortable with Travis occasionally chiming in with random facts ( _did you know that in olden days people couldn't afford coffins so they'd bury the dead in walls and now if you renovate really old houses you're likely to find dead bodies in the walls.)_

Nolan wants to tell Travis about his leg. Get it over and done with. But he can't get the words out, he's never been good with effectively communicating his thoughts and feelings. Nolan just sits there, staring at Travis, trying to find the words to say what he wants to say. 

"What?" Travis questions as he looks up at Nolan with a reassuring grin. Nolan doesn't want to mess this up but he's already doing that as he stares wide-eyed, mouth open at an earnest looking Travis.

"I don't have a leg" he bursts out as the silent staring on his part becomes too creepy.

Travis' brows furrow and Nolan can feel the familiar stab of incoming panic hurting his chest, can feel the flutter of butterflies against his stomach as he attempts to ignore the nausea that spreads through him.

"Wha - what do you mean" Travis stutters slightly before chuckling in confusion.

"I lost my leg" Nolan reiterates. Travis doesn't say anything, only looks at him with growing confusion.

"I was in a war" Nolan explains and as understanding dawns on Travis' face, Nolan fights the urge to vomit bile all over the leather interior of the nice looking car.

"That's cool buddy" Travis says softly as he carries on driving.

"WAIT!" He exclaims as he jerks his head towards Nolan.

"I meant like it's cool, like not that it's cool that you lost your leg, but like it's _cool,_ like it doesn't change my opinions of you as a person, I didn't mean-"

"Travis?"

"Yeah"

"Shut up"

* * *

"This is like really good" Nolan groans around a mouthful of maple syrup drenched waffles and he points his fork at the plate.

"I know right" Travis replies with a smug grin etched on his face as he sips his mint chocolate chip milkshake - _for breakfast._

"Claude told me about it when I first moved here" Travis as he leans back into his armchair.

"Who that?" Nolan garbles from another mouthful before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Claude Giroux" Travis repeats as he takes a bite of his toast.

Nolan looks up brows furrowed in plain confusion. "Yeah but like, who that?" he questions again.

"You know, captain of the Philadelphia Flyers" Travis spells out.

"You know an NHL captain?" Nolan questions in disinterest.

"That's cool" he proceeds to say halfheartedly with a slight nod.

"No dude I-" Travis flounders as Nolan looks at him in bewilderment.

"So you don't know an NHL captain?" Nolan ask as he grabs the nearby bottle of maple syrup and proceeds to drench his already drenched waffles with more maple syrup.

Travis looks at his meal with pure disgust before turning to look up at Nolan again.

"No I - Yeah but - I was wearing a flyers hoodie when I met you!" Travis exclaims causing a few heads to turn their way. Travis sinks into his seat.

"You're still wearing a flyers hoodie" Nolan points out.

"What does your lack of style have to do with you knowing or not knowing an NHL captain" Nolan continues as he shoves yet another mouthful of waffles into his mouth.

"I'm a flyer"

_Ooooooooh_

"Oh" Nolan says. He doesn't know what to say, _good for you_ , though his years on earth and copious amounts of social faux pa's tell him that saying that is a bad idea. Nolan had been into hockey from when he was young and then he got injured, was actually a top draft prospect, makes sense that Travis doesn't know, but it still hurts. The constant aching reminder of his missing leg also does nothing to assuage his rising heartrate. _First you fucked up your leg and now you lost the damn thing._ His broken brain supplies in a cruel and repeating litany.

"I just wanted you to watch me play" Travis mumbles into his hoodie as he sinks further down into his seat after pushing a ticket towards Nolan. Nolan tries to catch his breath and thanks the universe for making Travis interrupt his brain. But then he freezes. Again. He could say no. Could explain his aversion towards ice rinks, hockey sticks, pucks or just anything that reminds him of the game. But then he looks up and sees the shaking of Travis' hands, the blush on his cheekbones and the vulnerability in his eyes.

"You playing hockey?" Nolan questions as he grabs the ticket.

"I wouldn't miss that mess for anything" Nolan chirps.

Travis feels his hot cheeks cool down and the shaking of his hands stop, as the butterflies in his stomach cease whatever the fuck they were doing in there.

"I'm like gonna score a goal for you Pat" Travis declares with a grin etched onto his stupidly pretty face.

"A goal?" Nolan scoffs as his heart flutters in his chest as he spies Travis' smile. _I did that._

_"_ I score a hatty and you have dinner with me, in my house" Travis bets as he playfully raises his brows up and down and swirls his straw around his green concoction.

Nolan sinks into his chair, smirk artistically placed on his face.

"If you don't, I prank call wheoever I want from your contacts" Nolan concedes

"You're on"


End file.
